


The Rift Between Us

by lancer365



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-02-24 08:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2574362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lancer365/pseuds/lancer365
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuvira comes back to Zaofu with her army as a changed person; unrecognizable to Suyin. As they reunite after three years, affections of a past relationship are rekindled. (CHAPTER 3 Here ;) )</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. After So Long

A.N: So this is that Alternate chapter from "A Desperate Decision"...But I've decided to expand on it and make it its own story. Anyways, have fun reading ;) 

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AFTER SO LONG

The night sky of Zaofu was a barren void of darkness; stretching far beyond the reaches of any human. Since Kuvira had come back with her army the sky had been even darker. For nights, the clouds had covered the sky, masking over the stars behind them.

Tonight was no different.

Hidden behind one of the tanks across the field from where Kuvira's tent was; Suyin gazed up at the sky, and for a moment she wished she could evaporate with the stars, behind those dark clouds. 

Her mind had become a chaotic mess of thoughts; but she tried her best not to let them distract her from the task at hand.

"Stay out here." Suyin said as she looked over to her sons.

"Uh mom…are you sure that's a good idea?" Wei started as Suyin turned her head back to the tent. "I mean—"

"Yes" Suyin said turning her head back towards them, her eyes grazing the ground for an instant before she lifted her head to gaze into the distance. "I'll call for you if I need you…should something go wrong."

Wei looked over to his brother with his eye brow raised in an odd expression. Something wasn't right with their mother, and they could feel it.

"We're just going to knock her out and capture her, right?" Wei said slightly suspicious of his mother's distant look.

"Yes…and once I'm in there, it shouldn't take too long...but, don't come barging in there just because I don't come out in five minutes." she said with a playful scold as a reassuring smile graced her features. Suyin glanced back over to the tent before continuing as her smile faded.

"I'll be fine…"

On paper the plan seemed easier than she knew it was going to be. It was: Get in. Get her. Get out. But the mechanics of the plan weren't the reason why it so difficult to carry out; it was her own personal feelings that held her back. 

She and Kuvira had a past together that couldn't be painted over and forgotten. They'd shared moments in time that only they would ever know about. From the conversations in her office that had always turned into more, to the midnight rendezvous, and formal trips outside of Zaofu with the guard.

Suyin remembered them all.

Pulling herself away her thoughts, Suyin decided it was time to go, as she gave one last look to her boys. They had always been so closely attached to her and now, they were growing up to be strong independent men.

"Alright, I'll be back." Suyin said.

Bending the earth beneath her feet, she tunneled under until she could feel the metal above. 

Breaking it open as quietly as she could, she climbed up into the room. Her eyes sharpened into a glare as she scanned the room, seeking out the Great Uniter. The clean and immaculate state of the sparsely furnished room was the first thing Suyin noticed. But as she stood in place longer, she became aware of the feelings of dread and depression hanging in the air. 

Looking to the far side of the room, she saw the metal from Kuvira's uniform, along with her other belongings that had been placed on the dresser, and organized precisely. 

Finally spotting the sleeping woman, Suyin braced herself for what she had to do next. Curling her hands into fists, she swallowed down every ounce of apprehension. It was time for her to end Kuvira's reign of terror; and in her mind haste was the only way she could accomplish the task. If she did it quickly she wouldn't have time to think; her thoughts being the only damning force against her.

She moved towards the bed, taking notice of how oblivious Kuvira was to the impending attack as she slept on her side. 

Step-by-step she moved quietly, rolling all of her weight throughout each foot, careful as to not wake the sleeping woman.

Suyin neared the edge of the bed, with just one last step to go. But of course, nothing was that easy; and on that final step her foot caught into something that wasn't part of the ground. Sliding to the side, her front foot elicited a sound while throwing her off balance. The matriarch froze; regaining her balance as she cursed under her breath. “Damn it.”

Fortunately, she remembered Kuvira had been a heavy sleeper. There wasn't much that could wake her up once she was out. Although, even with that said, it wouldn't have ended well had she fallen onto the Great Uniter. Suyin's eyes narrowed to look at the uniform that had been lazily discarded on the floor.

'Just like Kuvira' she thought, allowing herself a small smile. 

Kuvira always had that one flaw that stuck out of her perfection. Suyin kneeled down, picking up the uniform as she let her fingers run across its material.

How was it that this simple change of clothing could mean so much?

When Kuvira discarded the guard’s uniform, replacing it with her own; she had ultimately disconnected herself from Zaofu for good. The guard’s uniform represented protection and loyalty; but this new uniform represented nothing but fear. Those who saw these would cower to the will of the Earth Empire, and Kuvira knew that.

A distressed grunt tore Suyin from her thoughts. 

Standing up, her eyes were drawn to the look of agony and pain present on Kuvira's face. Suyin's resolve broke, watching the Great Uniter furrow her brow, as she continued to shift between the two. 

With a sigh, she removed her mask and turned around to sit on the edge of the bed. Now she was thinking too much, and there was no way she could complete the task at hand. Yes, Zaofu was very important to her, but so was Kuvira. She loved her deeper than she could admit to herself…or at least, deeper than she wanted to admit.

Not judging the consequences, Suyin lifted a hand, resting it on the Great Uniter's side as despair overtook her face.

Zaofu could wait.

However, that touch was her biggest mistake, as the Great Uniter shot up; furious eyes meeting shocked ones. Before Suyin's mind fully registered what was happening, her back forcefully hit the wall.

'That hurt'  
Dazed by the attack, Suyin opened her eyes to see her wrists entrapped by metal.

Kuvira walked over to where Suyin sat restrained and looked down at the older woman with disdain."I really hope you weren't planning on killing me," she said before she sighed and moved closer to wall.

Leaning her back against wall, she slid down until she was sitting next to Suyin. With her eyes set straight ahead she continued, as she listened to the woman's breathing hasten.

"Bataar wouldn't appreciate it if he came in to find his fiancée dead at the hands of his own mother, now would he?” Kuvira said, tilting her head back to the wall. The taunting tone of those words was enough to throw Suyin into a fury.

"Leave him out of this. You've already dragged him in far enough!" The matriarch shot back, her words beginning to run together. Out of the corner of her eye, Suyin watched Kuvira slowly get up to stand silently in front of her. As curiosity got the better of her, Suyin lifted her head, only to be greeted by an unnerving sight. The Great Uniter, towering over her; her face obscured in darkness. 

What scared Suyin the most was that she couldn't visualize what the look on Kuvira's face was; there was no way to predict what was coming next. But against her better judgment she asked "What's the point of staying with a man you don't love?”

The room shrouded in silence as Kuvira considered the question before she spoke.

"And how do you know that?" Suyin could hear the mocking grin in Kuvira's voice.

"Because, I know you…" she said looking down to the floor.

Predicting where the conversation was headed, Kuvira narrowed her eyes as she stared at the top of Suyin's head.

"I didn't want to go about getting Zaofu this way," The Great Uniter said, changing the subject to avoid a conversation she didn't want to start. "But, if we can't agree, you leave me with no choice but to use force."

"Agree?" Suyin looked up as she raised her voice. "You want me to agree to have my city taken from me…this is everything I've worked for…my life is here." She paused.

"Why would want to take Zaofu like this anyway?" Her voice softened as her head fell back down. "This is your home too…these are your people."

"It is?" Kuvira scoffed, letting the sarcasm slip into her words. "…because the last time I saw you, I was pretty sure you told me I wasn't welcomed." The last of her words came out with malice, as her eyes sharpened into an unseen glare.

It was apparent now that Suyin's last words to Kuvira the day she left had affected her deeper than she was letting on. Suyin didn't mean to hurt her; those words had just come out of anger. 

She was mad that day for many reasons; but the fact that Kuvira dared to leave made her the angriest. She was upset about losing the person she had trusted with her life and even loved for years.

The age difference between them never mattered. As Suyin always believed, when two people could see themselves reflected in each other's eyes, there were no bounds to that kind of love; and as crazy as it was, she saw herself in this woman.

But the day Kuvira left wasn't the hardest for her. It was the day after, when she came to the realization that the guard was really gone. She would have never imagined that an argument over politics would be the thing to drive Kuvira away. 

During that time, and even now as she sat on the floor, she would have given –almost- anything to feel the guard’s touch again; her family being the one thing she couldn't compromise…even if it meant a life with Kuvira.

Suyin looked down at the metallic floor. 

Why was she still here? She could easily bend herself from the grasp of the metal restraints; but her own will was keeping her from leaving. Part of her desperately wanted to repair what had been broken between them. Even if the woman standing in front of her was starting to resemble less and less of the guard she had loved so many nights before, Suyin knew she wasn't gone; at least…not yet.

As the light in the room shifted, the Great Uniter's face finally came into view. Looking up, Suyin tried to find a piece of the person Kuvira used to be, in the eyes of the tyrant above her. 

Unlike the guard's eyes these were cold, calculating, and heartless. 

What did the past three years do to her? Had she made Kuvira like this?

Noticing Suyin's judgmental stare, Kuvira smirked.

"What are you trying to do…read me…figure me out?" she said, letting out a cold laugh as she squatted down until they were face to face. "So tell me, what do you see?" 

The dim moonlight filtering in from the skylight above gave Kuvira's eyes a dangerous flare as Suyin forced herself to look directly into them. What she saw in them she couldn't describe. These weren't the eyes she loved gazing into when they were alone. They were as dark and barren as the night sky.

"Why are you really doing this? Is it because of me?" Suyin had finally asked the questions that had been swimming around in her head ever since Kuvira left.

"No. It's time Zaofu got reacquainted with the rest of the Earth Kingdom, don't you think?" The Great Uniter paused, letting Suyin ponder over her words. 

"You've been holding out on your own kind, and Earth Empire represents fairness." Kuvira said, leaning in just a fraction closer to Suyin. "I will give the people what you wouldn't…and I—" 

Suyin didn't let her finish; she couldn't bear to hear any more. “Fairness does NOT mean conquering people and bending them to your will, while you throw others into prison camps." 

"I can see we're not going to agree." Kuvira said, her eyes growing darker and more distant. 

Suyin couldn't understand how it had come to this, as she sighed and hung her head. The guard she once knew was turning into a monster. It didn’t even sound like Kuvira believed what she was saying anymore either; it just sounded like a practiced drone of words that really meant nothing.

"Oh Kuvira…what have you done?" Suyin barely whispered, not meaning for the question to be answered, as she closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. But the statement did not go unheard, and Suyin's expressed disappointment only served to ignite Kuvira's anger. 

The Great Uniter slammed a fist on the wall next to Suyin's head; but the older woman didn't flinch. Instead she waited for the angry explanation that was bound to follow.

Suyin knew Kuvira had a temper; but the guard had always managed to keep that side of her hidden. Instead, she opted for a façade of calmness, not letting any emotions escape, no matter how much she was unraveling on the inside. 

But now, with the world on her shoulders, she was breaking, and the cracks in her demeanor were starting to show.

"What I have done is bring peace and a new political system to a new generation," Kuvira paused, her eyes staring at the wall. "Something you wouldn't do." She said through clenched teeth as her tone darkened.

Suyin slowly raised her head to meet Kuvira's eyes once more; but this time sorrow had washed over her face, as she gazed silently into the vacant eyes in front of her. The Guard’s once good intentions had now been lost in her anger and a lust for power.

The longer the matriarch stared into the Great Uniter's eyes, the easier it became for her to see straight through Kuvira's other motives, to the heart of the problem.

"Don't think that I lied to you when I told you how I felt." Suyin said softly, as she freed one of her hands from its metal restraint. 

The sudden change in subject had taken the Great Uniter by surprise.

But what had she expected? It was bound to come up again; there was no way she could avoid it forever. 

Feeling her resolve falter, Kuvira tilted her head down to the floor, clenching her other hand that rested in front of Suyin into a fist. 

It had taken her three years to get over what happened between them; and in those three years she had revived the Earth Kingdom. 

Moving from city to city, she single-handedly united all but one under her new Earth Empire. 

Zaofu was the final stop; and for personal reasons she had saved this one for last.

As Kuvira’s emotions began to betray her, a dangerous level of anger set in. Her breath hastened as she resorted to breathing out her rage through her nose. She never took failure well, and in this case she had failed to rid herself of the feelings she held for Suyin, and it came at the price of her sanity.

Lost in her anger, she didn't feel Suyin's fingers come to rest on her chin, as she lifted Kuvira's head back up to meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be with you the way you wanted me to." Suyin said, as her hand slowly pushed back some of the dark hair that had fallen into the other woman's face. She always wondered what it was about Kuvira that had captivated her so. 

Bringing her hand to a stop, Suyin rested it on Kuvira's cheek, as her eyes searched for the answers to their problems on the face of the Great Uniter.

Kuvira lifted her head out of Suyin's hand, and looked away. "Stop looking at me like that."

“No. Kuvira I want you to look at me.”

Using the hand left suspended in the air between them, Suyin reached out as she tried to reclaim the face that denied her acknowledgement. With every touch, Kuvira moved further away from her.

With every rejection, Suyin’s irritation turned into anger. Without thinking, the matriarch reached out and forcefully grabbed the collar of Kuvira’s shirt, yanking her to her. “Damn it, look at me!”

The Great Uniter stared at Suyin with widened eyes, just inches away from her face. Looking into Suyin’s angry eyes, she watched them slowly soften back to their normal state. 

“I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Suyin looked down. “I don’t even know where that came from.”

Suyin sighed, relaxing her grip on Kuvira’s shirt. “Look at me turning into someone I don’t even recognize.”

In the silence that hung between them, Kuvira listened to Suyin take an unsteady deep breath, but said nothing.

“You’re tearing me apart, you know that?” The Matriarch closed her eyes, feeling the burn of tears beginning to form. “I just want things to go back to the way they were between us because …I love you and it’s hard to watch you hate me.”

Kuvira’s eyes widened at the confession as her hand unclenched from its fist to move up to Suyin. Stopping herself, Kuvira remembered Suyin’s reason for being where she was in the first place as her eyes returned to their glare.

“You love me, huh?” Suyin looked up, hearing the sarcasm in Kuvira’s voice. “Well then you have got a funny way of showing it, by trying to kill me in my sleep.”

“No, that was just a rash decision.” Suyin pleaded with Kuvira, watching the Great Uniter scoff and look away. “You have to believe me I wouldn’t have gone through with it.”

“Just the fact that you were willing to kill me, is making it very hard for me to believe anything you say.” Kuvira moved to get up, only to be pulled back by the matriarch’s hand still on her collar.

“No…please Kuvira just hear me out.” 

Suyin watched the Great Uniter relax in her grip, silently acknowledging her will to listen. “I still love you just as much as I did three years ago, and the years before that, when everything between us first started.”

The matriarch slowly looked down, focusing on Kuvira’s thigh as she freed her other hand from its restraint. “Can you forgive me? I wasn’t thinking about any of the consequences of what I was going to do.” Suyin said in a weakened voice placing the same hand on the Great Uniter’s knee as she let it glide upwards to a stop. 

Sighing, Suyin turned her attention back to the eyes of the younger woman, opening her mouth as she sought out the words to say. Giving up, she resorted to silence. What could she say to make Kuvira believe that her words were still true and her feelings had never changed from the night she had finally told her she loved her?

Nothing…she knew there was nothing she could say; Kuvira would always be too stubborn to believe her. And like her mother, the great police chief had always said, sometimes not all points could be proven through words alone, and action was needed to enforce them.

The anger in Kuvira's eyes slowly dissipated as Suyin moved her hand from Kuvira's shirt to the base of her neck. She always did have a pacifying effect on younger woman, and tonight was no different. But the Great Uniter hesitated, as she felt Suyin's hand trying to pull her in closer. It took enough effort for Kuvira to move past her feelings for Suyin, and she didn't want to go through that pain again. 

But like always, when it came to Suyin her resistance was futile.

As her lips met Suyin's, she finally gave into what she had been longing for for years since she had left Zaofu. She missed the fiery kisses that only the matriarch could give; the ones hot enough to turn even the densest metal into liquid.

Moving her hand from the wall to Suyin's neck, Kuvira brought her in closer; losing herself in the moment as she deepened the kiss, letting her fingers trap themselves in the older woman's hair. 

But, just as quickly as it had left, Kuvira's rationality returned, and she opened her eyes breaking the kiss.

"You need to go." she said, placing her forehead against the matriarch's; pausing to take in as much as she could to remember the moment before it was lost. Seeing Suyin’s mouth open to argue, she silenced her with one word, "please."

This had to be the last time for them; they couldn't do this anymore. Playing this game of love and war took a tremendous toll on both; and each time the stakes grew higher.

Kuvira let go of Suyin. Standing up, she turned her back the woman and collected her emotions once more; wiping them from her face, as she burned the feeling of kissing Suyin in her mind.

"Kuvira I-" Suyin stood up, unsure of what she was actually going to say. As every thought in her mind argued against her, she realized Kuvira was right…she needed to leave.

In an instant the reality that was lost just moments ago, came back as she made her way to the door; feeling guilty for having left her sons outside for so long, while she engaged in her personal affairs.

"What are we going to do now?" Suyin asked with her back to the other woman, as her hand gripped the door knob.

"I don't know." Kuvira hastily replied "…but, I'm going to try to forget that this ever happened."

Suyin knew she meant that to apply to more than just what happened moments ago, and with a saddened expression on her face, she pushed open the door and left.

When the door closed, Kuvira walked to the dresser, grabbing the edge with both hands. Looking down at her reflection in the polished shine of her armor, her face morphed into frustration. ‘Why does this have to be so hard?’ 

Letting out a growl, she raked her fingers through the metal. It wasn’t true, what she had said to Suyin; but in order to move on, Kuvira needed her to believe she didn’t love her.

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Author’s note: So, I hope you liked the improvements. I HAD to fix it. When I went back and re-read it I was like O_O….but anyways, if you are just finishing this for the first time I hope you liked it…so, comment if you want, tell me whatever, message me…I’m friendly ;)


	2. Awakenings of Something Unspoken

Author's Note: Wow…been a long time since we've seen this story, huh? Lol.

I just decided to take a quick break from the other stories and write this one out FINALLY. It has been sitting around for so long it's shameful. Prepare for this to briefly go to some crack places.

Anyways on you go ;)  
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Previously: Letting out a growl, she raked her fingers through the metal. It wasn't true, what she had said to Suyin; but in order to move on, Kuvira needed her to believe she didn't love her.  
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Awakenings of Something Unspoken  
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171AG

 

"You're going to be here for a while..." Suyin said, already sensing Kuvira's presence as she heard the door to her office close. Turning from the shelf, she locked eyes with the guard now standing to the side of the room.

Passing in front of the guard, she gave a light knock to the metal chest plate of Kuvira's uniform with the knuckle of her free hand as she made her way to one of the other bookshelves. "So, if I were you, I'd take that off."

Kuvira ignored the slightly heightened pace of her heart, watching Suyin move away.

It had become a daily battle for her to fight against the inappropriate feelings she held for the older woman; and lately they had become even stronger after Zaofu was infiltrated by the Red Lotus. What that attack had reminded her was that Zaofu was not the impenetrable fortress it felt like it was.

The Red Lotus group had only come to kidnap the Avatar, but for Kuvira they had gotten too close to Suyin for her comfort. Just the fact that they were able to sneak past their security angered her enough.

The following day, she called a meeting with the night watchmen who had been on duty. The cordial meeting quickly turned into a heated debate over loyalties, and Kuvira could hear some latent resentment for her in the other guards' voices.

Being younger than a few of her colleagues and already promoted to such a high rank, didn't sit well with some of the other guards. Some even began to question what she was doing with Suyin in order to shoot through the ranks so quickly.

Kuvira looked down. "Don't worry I-" She looked up to see Suyin turning away from the bookshelf in silence before giving her a non-negotiable look.

The guard sighed, beginning to take off her armor as she watched Suyin turn back to the bookshelf with a smile on her face.

That was one of the things about her; Suyin was friendly and easy to talk to, but everyone who had known the matriarch for a while or at least had spent time with her more than once, knew that she was a force not to underestimate.

Being Suyin's "personal" guard for years, Kuvira witnessed how easily deceptive the matriarch's kindness could be to those who didn't know her well, and how quickly that kindness could turn into intimidation. But that was the mysterious beauty of Suyin Beifong that fascinated Kuvira, and continued to a little bit more each day.

Out of the corner of her eye, Suyin watched as the guard took the armor off piece by piece, placing them in a pile on the couch.

Seeing Kuvira take off the armor in a very tentative way, made Suyin feel as though she were watching the guard pull down the barriers she had up, protecting her from the outside world, until she slowly revealed the person inside. She smiled, not noticing that she had stopped to stare; her eyes beginning to wander over the body of the guard. Kuvira had a lean and powerful kind of strength to her that never failed to mesmerize Suyin.

'I wonder what she looks like un-' Suyin hastily shook her head, closing her eyes as she cleared her throat, blocking out the other thoughts threatening to invade her mind; thoughts not fit for a matriarch…or a mother of 5. Where had they even come from, or more importantly…where were they headed?

"Suyin, is something wrong?"

The deep husky voice of the guard sent a shudder through the matriarch, as she opened her eyes to see Kuvira looking back at her with an eyebrow raised.

It wasn't often that she got to see Kuvira out of her armor; the exception being with the dance team. And even now the guard was still an impressive sight to take in; if not even more so…

Suyin briefly closed her eyes once more. "No, I'm fine…just a little tired." She sighed as she ran a hand down her face and moved across the room.

True to her words Kuvira noticed how tired the older woman looked. Furrowing her brow, she took a couple steps closer to the matriarch moving towards the desk, before she realized what her feet were doing and stepped back into her previous position.

The past few days had been hectic for the both of them. Between publically trying to persuade people that Zaofu was still safe, and maintaining heightened security after the Red Lotus attack. It was enough to say that they were both worn out. The days right after the attack had been the worst. And for the first time in a while, Kuvira had seen Suyin lose her normally calm disposition; put on sudden edge by the infiltration of the city she had worked so hard to keep impenetrable.

But now a few weeks had gone by, and things had begun to slowly return to the state of normalcy they had been in before.

"I hope you aren't planning on standing the entire time." Kuvira listened to Suyin, watching the woman move to her desk, letting her fingers trail along the edge of the wood as she turned to the window. "You know, you remind me of Lin sometimes…standing there stoic and emotionless like you are now." Suyin chuckled at the comparison while she gazed down to her city below.

Lin was a large part of her life growing up. Although they never really got along perfectly, she still loved her. It took her years to realize and come to an appreciation for everything that Lin had done for her when they were younger. Lin had become the mother figure Toph didn't always have time to be, and Suyin still held some guilt for how badly she had treated her. To this day, she still had not apologized for the scars left on Lin's face; created by her own hands, albeit not on purpose.

Kuvira shifted her eyes down to the floor. After years of being called cold and emotionless she was used to hearing it; and the more she heard those words, the more true to her personality they became. But listening to them come from Suyin hurt. She had her reasons for shutting people out; ones that prevented her from gaining any close attachments to anybody.

But unknowingly, she had let herself get attached to the matriarch. And around Suyin, emotions that lied dormant -some she didn't even know she had- would begin to surface; breaking from the depths she had pushed them into.

In the moment of hearing Suyin call her emotionless, Kuvira wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around the older woman, drawing her in and proving that she did indeed have plenty of emotion. But for obvious reasons she suppressed urges like that, knowing that she never would act on them.

"I wonder sometimes…" Kuvira heard Suyin start as the rest of the matriarch's words faded away, while the guard unknowingly fazed her out, letting the questions she asked herself over and over again surface. 'What is it I feel for Suyin? Why do I even feel this way…and for a woman twice my age? What makes me feel differently for her than anyone else? When-?'

"Kuvira….Kuvira?" Suyin said her name the second time with a little more force; enough to break the guard from her stupor.

"What?" Kuvira blinked, hastily looking up after she gave her head a light shake. "Oh, Sorry I wasn't paying attention." Her eyes darted around to find that Suyin had moved from her desk and now stood in front of her with a handful of maps.

The matriarch smirked. "I can see that." She walked over to the table placing the maps and schematics of Zaofu down on its smooth wooden top. It was odd for her to see Kuvira get so easily distracted; something she had never known the guard to do.

Looking up from the table, Suyin's eyes met Kuvira's. "Stay here, I'll be right back." The guard followed Suyin with her eyes, watching her open the door to step out into the hallway.

On instinct, Kuvira picked up a foot to move into the direction Suyin had left, after she had disappeared from her sight. The guard in her knew to follow the orders given to her, but also wanted to ensure the older woman's safety.

It was a crazy thought to think that Suyin would be harmed in her own home. But after the attack, thoughts like that began to seem more realistic in Kuvira's mind.

Lately she had noticed herself becoming more protective over Suyin, and it began to make her wonder if it was more than just her duty as a guard that made her want to keep Suyin safe. The very idea of the matriarch being harmed made Kuvira clench her jaw and lightly grind her teeth.

Her relationship with Suyin had always felt closer than an average connection between a Boss and employee. Over the years that bond had done nothing but grow stronger. And what was once a strictly professional relationship turned into a friendship based off of respect. But during the recent months, it became evident that time had blurred the lines between their friendship and something deeper that Kuvira couldn't yet explain.

She figured the changing feel of their relationship was mainly due to the fact that they had been spending a lot more time in each other's presence during the long days and nights of the week.

Zaofu was getting older; and realizing it was time to update things, Suyin had called on Kuvira to help her find the city's weakening spots and to make the needed adjustments to security. This brought them closer on the long nights that sometimes ran into the early morning hours after their conversations would stray from the tasks at hand.

It was here that Kuvira began to notice how Suyin's subtle touches to one of her arms or a shoulder drove her heart to the edge, beating as though it'd burst from her chest at any moment.

"Why do you look so tense?" Suyin's voice startled Kuvira from her trance staring at the ground. She looked up, shifting her eyes from the tray of tea that had been brought in and set on the table, to the matriarch walking toward her with a puzzled look on her face.

When Kuvira didn't answer her, Suyin stopped in front of the guard, sharing a gaze between them.

For a moment, she thought she could see Kuvira's eyes soften from the hardened look she typically wore. "Spirits, you really are a lot like Lin." She said letting a mischievous grin slowly spread across her face as she watched the guard's eyebrow rise in uncertainty. "Loosen up." She poked Kuvira in the abdomen; a gesture the guard was ill-prepared for as she smiled and let out a short laugh.

Realizing what she had done, Kuvira tried to quickly recompose herself, covering the laugh with a misplaced cough and grunt.

Suyin, with her finger still lifted in the space between them, grinned watching the guard's eyes shift away from her own. "Oh wow…I would have never imagined that you of all people would be ticklish…I didn't even think you'd be capable of that. " the matriarch laughed; turning her back to Kuvira as she walked to the table again, smiling as a thought crossed her mind. 'I think I want to have some fun with this.'

Suyin bit her lower lip before motioning with her fingers to the guard behind her. "Come on…we should probably get started anyways."

Kuvira carefully inched closer, swearing she heard a dangerously mischievous grin in the tone of Suyin's voice.

Continuing to move towards the couch her armor lay on, Kuvira kept an eyebrow raised in suspicion, narrowing her eyes at the matriarch's back. She remembered the stories Suyin used to tell of how she was a troublemaker and a prankster in her younger years.

Even though Suyin was in her 40s, Kuvira never really thought she showed or acted her age. The older woman had an eternal youthful vibrance to her personality that made it easy for the guard to forget that Suyin was actually twice her age.

The guard sighed, shifting her eyes away from Suyin's back.

She figured if the other woman hadn't done anything already with her being this close, then she was safe.

A sudden tug on her sleeve quickly changed her opinion; making Kuvira stop in her tracks with widened eyes.

"You really should learn to loosen up."

There it was again; that suggestive tone to Suyin's voice, challenging every ounce of will power Kuvira had built up.

She turned around to look at the matriarch; her face dropping, as she watched a wicked smirk slowly spread across Suyin's face. "Suyin, no." Kuvira started to back up, wedging into the space between the couch and the coffee table.

The woman advanced closer, jabbing the guard in the side. "That's not gonna stop me…" She paused, seeing the smile Kuvira tried so hard to keep from escaping, break through the stoic mask on the guard's face. 'So, she can smile.' Suyin thought before she continued to speak, getting closer to Kuvira's retreating form with each word. "…I'm having too much fun with this."

Suyin's fingers poked at Kuvira over and over again, as the guard put all of her focus on warding off the other woman's hands; paying less attention to where she placed her feet trailing backwards.

Catching the heel of her foot behind the edge of the table leg, Kuvira lost her balance; grabbing Suyin's hand which had reached out for her.

Pulling the matriarch down with her, they landed in a heap on the floor of the office.

Slightly dazed by the force of the impact on her back, Kuvira didn't immediately notice the weight of a body on top of her. The fingers of Suyin's hand began to move within her own, quickly bringing the guard back to reality. Opening her eyes, Kuvira stared at the light fixture hanging on the ceiling above with a mixture of shock and disbelief on her face. She sucked in a stifling breath, feeling a knee push into the spot between her legs.

Suyin slipped her hand out of Kuvira's grasp; Keeping her eyes closed as she lifted her head from the guard's chest. Placing her hands down, she pushed herself up, hearing a groan come from beneath her. Suyin's eyes shot open to see Kuvira's squeezed shut and her face twisted in discomfort. "What is it?"

"You're…pushing…on my stomach."

Suyin darted her eyes to the surface below her; her hands resting on the soft spot right under the guard's rib cage. With a glance, the matriarch spared a look into the small space left between their bodies, noticing the knee she had strewn in the middle of Kuvira's legs.

With a sudden intense heat washing over her, she quickly looked over to the door; only to be thankful to every force of life that it was closed. Their situation was already getting awkward enough. She didn't need things to be made worse, by finding the eyes of unwanted spectators upon them. The last thing she needed were rumors to be spread, about how the leader of Zaofu was caught lying on the floor, in a compromising position with a younger woman; who also happened to be the captain of her guard.

Turning her head back, Suyin's eyes connected with Kuvira's deep green ones.

They froze; staring at each other for the longest time, before the matriarch saw the guard's mouth stretch into a crooked smile; something she had seen more of in one evening, than in all of the years they had been working together. It made her want to melt and collapse against Kuvira's warm body, for reasons she didn't understand.

"You know…you're still on me."

Suyin was pulled from her thoughts, as her eyes focused back to guard's. "Oh s-sorry." She moved off of Kuvira, before she turned and landed on her back with a 'thud' against the floor.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kuvira watched Suyin lay down next to her; drawing an arm over her eyes as she exhaled a slow breath.

Neither of them made any immediate attempt to get up. In fact, there was an air of content between them as they laid side-by-side, listening to the room dissolve into silence; their soft breaths being the only thing heard.

Kuvira turned her head to look at Suyin; taken aback by the beauty of the sight she was greeted with. Basked in the glow of the evening sun filtering in from the windows above, Suyin looked more radiant than ever to the awestruck guard; even with the added shadows cast over her.

A small smile spread across Suyin's face, as Kuvira watched her mouth slightly part.

"I must really be tired, to pull something like I did earlier."

Without giving much thought to the matriarch's words, Kuvira let her body work before her mind; rolling over onto her knees until she hovered above Suyin.

The older woman could already sense what was happening, feeling the heat from Kuvira's body grow warmer and warmer against her skin and through the fabric of her clothing. She didn't want to move her arm, knowing that she'd find Kuvira above her, gazing back.

But a part of her did wonder what it was that held her back. Was it her morality? Or was it the fact that she knew if she lowered her arm, suppressed emotions would be let out; forcing her to give into feelings that were rapturous in the short term, but undoubtedly destructive in the long term.

Right now, her arm was the barrier between what she knew was right, and what she wanted.

There was a faint 'clink' as a hand reached up to move Suyin's arm away from her eyes; effectively breaking the barrier between them; The one that prevented Kuvira from seeing the matriarch's true desires set somewhere behind her jade colored eyes.

Suyin felt her arm resting in the guard's hand as she stared at Kuvira. And for the first time, she was able to see the guard as she had never seen her before; her eyes telling her more than she imagined Kuvira was capable of. In them she saw comfort, fidelity, protection…and something else she had never noticed before…love.

The glare of the sun on metal drew Suyin's attention to the necklace that had fallen out of Kuvira's uniform; now hanging in front of her. She never knew Kuvira to keep such things; and definitely never saw her as the type to wear jewelry. But from what Suyin could see, this wasn't just a random piece of jewelry. It was a piece of sentimental nostalgia that had its significance to her.

Suyin lifted her hands, gently breaking the one from the guard's grip in the process, to grasp the necklace before her mind could say no. At first touch she realized she couldn't feel the familiar sensation that she did with other bendable metals, telling her it was platinum. Turning the silver colored metal between her fingers, she noticed a worn engraving written in the old Earth Kingdom language.

If her days in school had taught her anything, what it said was "for my daughter."

"It's the only piece of my parents that I have." Kuvira said, her softened voice pulling Suyin from her trance.

"It's beautiful."

Smirking, Kuvira ran her thumb across the top of the matriarch's forehead; allowing some of her fingers to trail into the greying hair. "It's old is what it is."

"Well it obviously means something to you." Suyin said, as her hands slowly travelled upward from the necklace to clasp around Kuvira's neck.

"You know, I don't normally divulge family history…" Kuvira smiled. "So, I guess that means you're having an effect on me."

A lazy "hmm…" was all she got out of Suyin, as the guard felt herself being pulled down.

Their eyes met, leaving neither to speak the unspoken confessions that played out between them. And Kuvira gave a genuine smile to the woman below her, knowing that her once thought to be unrequited feelings, were returned.

But this was where the danger lied, in those moments just before committing that un-redeemable act of a kiss.

There were still thoughts of resistance that lingered in her mind as Kuvira stopped herself with an inch separating her from what she had always desired, and the point of no return. But temptation won as she felt their noses touching and the softness of Suyin's breath on her face, mingling with her own.

And, what was the point of life, if you couldn't ever have even a taste of what you longed for?

That was the question that rationalized all of the guard's thoughts as she connected her lips with Suyin's.

Their first kiss was mixed with uncertainty, as they learned the distinct feel of each other's mouths and the special characteristics of the other's kiss.

Kuvira moved down; off the palms of her hands and to the edges of her forearms, bringing herself closer to Suyin. What they were doing didn't just step on the blurred lines and boundaries between them; but crossed them entirely.

Breaking apart for air, they shared another look; both smiling passionate smiles that mimicked each other.

Suyin caressed the soft hair on the back of the guard's neck with her fingers, unknowingly sending chills through Kuvira's body with each touch. "Let's try that again…" she slowly started to bring the guard back down to her. "…and this time…do it right."

Giving a soft laugh, Kuvira did as instructed of her and let everything go; meshing their lips together for the second time.

Somewhere in the kiss, Suyin lost herself too; pulling on the guard by the green shirt of her uniform. The matriarch felt the weight on top of her increase slightly, as Kuvira relaxed against her; leading Suyin to catch a moan in her throat, keeping it from escaping as she felt the guard's belt grind into her hips.

Since they were lying right on the floor of her office, she couldn't let things go too far; but that didn't stop her from indulging herself for a few moments more.

Kuvira wrapped her arms around Suyin, feeling the older woman's fingers run across the skin behind her ears; gliding down to her face, as their kiss grew more desperate.

This was a twist to the monotonous sequences of her life that Kuvira hadn't been expecting. To think of herself ever kissing Suyin was originally just a fantasy hidden in the back of her mind; making what was happening feel all the less real.

Kuvira waited for the moment that she'd wake up from a daydream, finding Suyin sitting across the table from her with an odd look on her face as she stared back at her.

But just in case it was more real than she had yet to realize, Kuvira gripped the woman below her tighter, not wanting to lose the feeling of holding Suyin in her arms; something that she may never have the chance to experience again.

Moving from Suyin's lips, Kuvira placed a trail of kisses down the matriarch's neck as her ears picked up a muffled ring in the background.

Lost in their own world, the ringing around them went unnoticed long before Suyin opened her eyes in annoyance; narrowing them with a growl.

With her head resting against Kuvira's shoulder, she sighed. "I should probably get that."

The guard's eyes shot open hearing the whispered words in her ear. She hastily released Suyin from her grip and stood up from the floor; not even taking time to allow herself to fully process the situation.

Keeping her gaze down, Kuvira turned and walked over to the couch her armor lay on; wiping her mouth of any trace of Suyin's lipstick; she didn't need any questions from people asking who she had kissed, or any of the other suspicions that typically followed those questions.

"And, I should probably go." She began to put her armor back on, hearing the rustle of fabric behind her.

Suyin got up; walking over to her desk with a sigh as she pushed a hand through her hair.

Picking up the phone, the ringing ceased. "Suyin."

"Ma'am, just calling to tell you that it's all good down here; we're ready to close things up." The matriarch looked out the window. The horizon of the sun was just beginning to disappear, darkening the sky.

Night was approaching quickly, and the guard was making his routine call to her; the same one she got every night before they closed the domes. "Ok, go ahead and close it up."

"Yes ma'am." The guard said before the phone call was mutually ended without another word.

Suyin put the phone back on the hook; letting her hand linger on the handle as her thoughts wandered back to the memory of what occured moments ago.

She hadn't been kissed like that in a long time.

Kuvira made her feel needed again, while also bringing out the side of her younger self she thought was long gone. "Hey, Kuvira?"

The guard looked over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Better not get on my bad side."

Kuvira turned her body half way, to gaze at the woman with her back facing her. "Why is that?"

The matriarch grinned, looking down at the phone her hand still rested on. "Well, because now I can tell everyone that the tough captain of the guard is ticklish." She heard a soft laugh go through Kuvira's deep voice, and turned around to the other woman with an eyebrow raised.

"Blackmail, huh?" Kuvira smiled. "You know, I think they'd be more concerned as to how you found that out..."

Suyin smirked, shifting her eyes back down. "Ok, you win…well played."

Moving towards the door, Kuvira took in a deep breath; stopping with her hand on the door handle. "Let me know, if you need anything."

There was a subtle vocal inflection that Suyin's ears picked up, as she listened to the guard say "anything."

She gazed over to the maps; still sitting untouched where she had left them on the table, and to the tea which had probably gone cold.

The matriarch turned around, focusing on the chair behind her desk as she let her feet move in its direction. 'We can get it done tomorrow.' She thought, remembering why she had called Kuvira into her office in the first place.

Whatever it was that happened between them just a short while ago, had now undoubtedly changed the nature of their relationship forever. They would never look at each other the same way again.

Whether or not the change was good or bad, was something still worth being debated in the minds of both participants.

Kuvira opened the door ajar, hearing Opal and Wei's voices breaking through the stillness of the silence in Suyin's office. Sensing there was something else Suyin had left to say, she lingered behind a little longer than she should have.

"You know, we're gonna have to talk about it eventually…" The matriarch paused, sighing a little bit heavier as she sat down in the chair. "…But not tonight…go get some rest."

"Yeah, I will."

"Suyin?" Bataar's voice came around the door, leading Kuvira to step back, opening it wider so he could get it. Their eyes locked for a brief moment before she pushed past him with a light nod, escaping the room.

Suyin's face froze; her eyes slightly widening as she watched the awkward interaction play out in front of her.

Feeling a trace of guilt, she looked down at the family photos that sat on her desk. And for the first time that evening, the consequences of her actions were very clear in her head. "Yeah?"

Bataar stepped closer to his wife, glancing over to the maps on the table. "Are you going to come down for dinner?"

'It's dinner already?' Suyin put a hand over her eyes in an effort to hide her growing shame.

"Suyin, is something wrong?" the matriarch closed her eyes, hearing Bataar repeat Kuvira's exact words from earlier.

"Yeah, I will." Suyin said, bypassing the question she didn't really have an answer for.

"Well the kids are starting to wonder where their mother is..." Bataar said, moving over to his wife.

Suyin opened her eyes, keeping them trained on the wooden grains of her desk.

It was like the words Kids and mother were being used against her; serving to only increase her guilt. She tensed at the sudden feel of his hand on her shoulder. His touch wasn't like Kuvira's; it didn't have the same intensity, and part of her wondered why not.

"I love you, don't be too long." He squeezed her shoulder and made his way out of the office.

It wasn't until he left that Suyin could muster a soft "I love you too."  
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A.N.- So, good read? I hope so. lol. It was much longer than I expected it would be. Anyways, hope you liked it and you can always message me or just review, and tell me your thoughts about it. ;)


	3. The Confrontation- Part 1

**_A.N. Just trying to get back into it. OTT as usual with me.lol. Proof read with tired eyes, so probably some mistakes._ **

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**_A Rift Between Us_ **

**_The Confrontation-Part 1_ **

_170 AG_

Kuvira wrapped her arms around Suyin, holding her guard’s helmet clasped within her fingers. The corners of her mouth slowly turned up into a genuine smile as she watched Suyin’s eyes scan over the chest plate of her uniform; the other woman lost in her own world of thoughts. Giving the matriarch a light squeeze with her arms, Kuvira’s smile dropped into a smirk watching the effects of her lighthearted gesture play out as Suyin was jarred from her internal thoughts.

Suyin stared at the skin of the guard’s neck, unknowingly avoiding the gaze which loved so. Looking into Kuvira’s eyes brought back old adolescent feelings; tinglings and jitters she hadn’t felt since her teenage years. It was one of those things Suyin didn’t like to admit. As prideful as she was she didn’t want to give in, letting the guard know she had strong hold over her. A powerful one that in this moment between them worked against her own will, as she felt a finger beneath her chin push her face up, until two deep green eyes gazed back into hers.

“What are you doing? hmm?” Suyin smiled raising an eyebrow to the younger woman whose hand found its way back down and around her waist. Feeling them begin to sway, she glanced around the dancehall they had met in many times, hours later after practice was over, after the sun had receded and the city was left to darkness. After curfew had forced people into their houses.

Only then did they consider their risky midnight rendezvous “safe”.  Suyin pressed herself to Kuvira; the metal from the guard’s uniform creating a chill through her clothes that slowly started to warm from her own body heat. “There isn’t even any music Kuvira.”

“There doesn’t need to be.” Kuvira spoke softly and pulled Suyin closer, resting her chin on the lower shoulder in front of her. Calming sensations of ease passed over her, as the matriarch’s hands ran from the base of her neck to her mid-shoulders; her fingers breaching the small confines of the captain’s armor.

Closing her eyes Kuvira released a captive breath, letting it drown out into a sigh of content as she felt Suyin’s finger tips manage to grip the fabric of her shirt. The Zaofu elite guard uniform wasn’t exactly designed for easy access, it was made to stay. Some of the guards often joked that it was Suyin’s twisted way of keeping them loyal. Smiling to herself, the Captain took note of how fast Suyin’s hands always found a way to the soft green shirt beneath the metal. The matriarch knew the location of every clasp keeping the whole uniform together. After all, she did create it.

Suyin gently pushed Kuvira away, taking the guard’s face into her hands as their motion slowly stopped. “What is this all about?” She smirked. “Not that I don’t like this side of you.”

Kuvira pulled out of Suyin’s grasp and rested her chin back onto the other woman’s shoulder. “Nothing. I just want to be close to you.” She pressed her face into the side of Suyin’s neck; her feet resuming their slow saunter as she led their movements to the imaginary sound in her head, despite their music-less surroundings. “For a little while at least.” Smiling Kuvira tightened her hold around the woman’s waist, feeling vibrations under the bottoms of her feet at every one of Suyin’s steps responding in return to her own.

“Are you…doing ok?” On the other side of the guard’s shoulder Suyin raised an eyebrow, as her fingers found their way back onto Kuvira’s neck, caressing the soft tufts that didn’t quite fit up into her braided ponytail. “You seem to be in a _very_ good mood. It’s actually a little scary.” She laughed under her breath. “You’re not…drugged up on something are you?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Suyin forcefully pushed Kuvira up with her hands on the guard’s chest. “Wait, What?”

Thrown off by the sudden forceful push, Kuvira momentarily stared wide-eyed at Suyin’s furrowed brow, before her heightened shoulders slumped and she sighed. “No, I’m not on anything. I-I meant yeah, I’m in a good mood.”

“Mhm…whatever.” Suyin smirked and pulled Kuvira back.

The conversation died between them as both enjoyed feelings of bliss and comfort in each other’s company. For now, they’d both made an unspoken pact to forget a little bit about everything else while they were together. The moments they had were rare, and far between the duties of their individual lives.

Tonight wasn’t a night to satisfy urges either…just to be together.

A low hum passed through Suyin’s ear, to the matriarch’s wide-eyed disbelief. It’s slow and sultry melody mixed with rich dark and deep tones, sending a liquid fire through her veins, and chills down her back. It took a moment for it to register that the enticing sound Suyin heard came from the woman holding her.

She had never heard Kuvira’s voice as she was now. The stoic guard she knew didn’t sing, didn’t hum, and hardly spoke. But if one could be intoxicated by sound alone, then surely, Suyin felt her mind drowning in the poisonous depths of Kuvira’s voice.

“It’s rare that I feel like this…” Kuvira smirked, burying her face into the crook of Suyin’s neck. “So enjoy it while you can.” She whispered and kissed the skin right under Suyin’s ear.

Suyin’s eyes closed, as she listened to the humming resume. “Trust me, I am.”

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**174 Zaofu- A few hours after Kuvira’s fight with Korra**

Kuvira stared at herself in the vanity mirror of her temporary Zaofu residence. Victory was hers but the jovial feelings of celebration were short lived in her mind. Remembering Suyin’s face in the front of the crowd, pushing the Avatar, encouraging her with anger brimming in her eyes, Kuvira looked down. The woman she loved was pushing for her quick defeat. Of course she deserved it; she had taken everything from that woman, even her son.

With a growling cry erupting from within her chest, Kuvira smashed her fist into the glass once, then twice; the impact so fast and quick the sensations of pain had yet to catch up. Taking in huffing breaths, Kuvira looked down to examine the damage. Slowly she curled the fingers of her hand into a fist, squeezing as she watched the blood run out from between the fresh cuts.

Ignoring her throbbing hand, Kuvira looked up at the broken mirror.

“Great Uniter?” A guard peeked his head around the corner. Dropping the prison chains in his hand, he called for her, albeit cautiously, from the door she had left open.

Already on edge, Kuvira’s intolerance rose with just his presence. 

“Great Uni-”

“WHAT!?”

Her eyes drew into slits as her heart raced a wild fire of burning rage. Yet, the flash of searing heat that one felt as their adrenaline spiked, preparing their body for attack, Kuvira had yet to feel. That meant she hadn’t gone over the edge, and self-control was still well within her grasp.

The guard gulped and tentatively stepped into the window-less metal room with his gaze down, looking at Kuvira’s back only a second before, as her bloodied hand fell to her side.

His eyes widened behind the mask he wore. “Do you want me to-”

“No.” His concern was useless to her, but to her annoyance, Kuvira still sensed his presence. “Is there a reason you’re still here?”

“U-Uh, Suyin is requesting to speak with you.”

There it was, that searing flash of heat. It coursed through her, leaving only a numb pulse to run wild throughout her body as her jaw locked, setting in a rigid position.

“No.”

“She’s being very adamant about it.”

“I don’t care.”

“She-”

“WHAT PART OF _NO_ DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?” Kuvira turned around, striding towards the shrinking guard with a quickened pace. Her limits were being tested as they always were with the mention of Suyin, although now, the matriarch’s name brought less thoughts of pleasure and more of apathy.

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_“What kind of control does she have over you? YOU’RE supposed to be the guard…Not her.”_

Standing outside the door, Suyin listened to every word Kuvira said. Her gaze dropped to the platinum chains around her wrists and the shackles at her feet. Kuvira wasn’t the person she knew anymore. The voice she listened to was riddled with fury. Suyin knew the Captain of her guard well-enough to hear the frustration, anger, and even resentment in her voice. But that Captain would have never locked her up, making her a prisoner in her own city; a city she knew Kuvira loved.

It hadn’t been but a few days since Kuvira’s guards came, apprehending both her and her family at the Great Uniter’s request. Now she stood leaning against the wall, wondering what on earth she could ever accomplish trying to talk to Kuvira in the Great Uniter’s heightened state.

Suyin lightly shook her head. It was almost futile to get anything through to Kuvira when she was riled up. But she’d done it before, in those rare moments Kuvira stormed into her office after losing her temper.

_‘Kuvira what is it?’_

Suyin smiled to herself and kept her head down. She could hear her response to the Captain’s heated intrusion in the imaginary office scenario playing in her head. She could see herself standing from her desk, making her way over to Kuvira, before she pacified the irate woman with a gentle touch, as she always did before they talked it over.

But Suyin’s smile soon faded to a deepened frown, and her brow knitted together. This was a different Kuvira, one using that same anger and frustration as part of a means to drive her motivation.

She couldn’t just waltz in, lay a hand on Kuvira, and expect that to solve all their issues. No that wouldn’t work, and Suyin didn’t expect it to. But still the proud woman was ever confident in her abilities. She knew there was a way to bring Kuvira back, just figuring out how was going to be a challenge. Her plan was to simply go in blind, and figure out a solution as they spoke, that is, if Kuvira would even give her the chance to talk.

_“She uh…k-kneed me in the…” The guard pointed between his legs._

_“I could care less if she stabbed you. Are you that incompetent that you can’t handle ONE woman in chains?” Kuvira reined in her self-control and sighed in annoyance. “You people are useless idiots sometimes.”_

_The Guard dropped his head down. “What would you like me to do, Great Uniter?”_

_“Take her back.”_

Suyin narrowed her eyes hearing Kuvira’s words. ‘Guess I have to force it.’

Sucking in her breath, Suyin walked around the corner, stepping into the room, coming face to face with the angry dark eyes of the Great Uniter that had shifted over to her as everything went silent. Suyin let her eyes soften as she stared back at Kuvira.

Their first reunion after Kuvira’s long absence, had been in her office. Suyin stood along with the rest of her family, looking at a confident Great Uniter who was “politely” demanding to assimilate Zaofu into her Earth Empire.

This was technically their third reunion, if the first discussion they’d had in the Great Uniter’s quarters following Suyin’s botched murder attempt was to be considered their second.

In the present moment, Suyin stood staring into the eyes of a lover who felt betrayed. Suyin couldn’t see the betrayal, but she could definitely tell that the anger behind Kuvira’s eyes was personal, and not wholly political.

“Get her out of here.” Kuvira glared, turning around to walk back towards the vanity, pulling out a small glass shard left in between the knuckles of her hand with a slight wince. “I have nothing to say to her.”

“Kuvira-”

“You’re the last person I wanna talk to.”

Tilting her head up, Suyin set her gaze into a deadpanned stare, trained onto the back of this new monster called the “Great Uniter” …that she’d no doubt had a hand in creating. “Give us a moment.” She directed her words to the guard still in the room, keeping her eyes glued to Kuvira.

When the guard didn’t move out of her peripheral vision Suyin looked over to him with narrowed eyes. “Just do it.”

The guard stared at her through the eyes of his helmet for a good while before he turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Suyin smirked. He knew better than to cross her with foolish disobedience; he was probably one of her former guards too.

Suyin looked back to Kuvira, watching the Great Uniter set her hands on the edge of the dresser and look down. “Kuvira-”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” The Great Uniter raised her good hand, drawing it over her face.  “You shouldn’t be here.” She said her words with an emotionless drone as her fingers drifted over her tired eyes.

Suyin’s eyebrows furrowed out of irritation for Kuvira’s stubborn personality.

Then in contrast, her eyes started to soften once again looking at the person she had shared so much with, leaning over the vanity, broken, but still standing.

Soon happier reminiscences of the times before the Great Uniter, and the better moments she had spent with Kuvira drifted into her mind, as her entire face began to soften with ease. “So, where am I _supposed_ to be…in a prison cell?” She looked down at the chains on her wrists. “Aren’t these enough?” Suyin took a second to glance up to the shards on the floor, then to the Great Uniter’s bloodied hand, connecting all the pieces.

“Obviously not for you.” Kuvira’s gruff voice sounded, low and seemingly full of apathetic detachment. “Somehow, you still managed to get in here.”

“And you’re stuck with me.” Suyin paused. “I won’t leave until we talk.”

“You speak as though you have a choice.”

Suyin narrowed her eyes drifting them back to Kuvira’s injured hand. 

Deep crimson drops of fresh blood, ran from the raw skin around Kuvira’s split knuckles to her fingers, dripping to the floor as she moved her hand from the dresser to her side. Suyin slowly looked away, tired of watching Kuvira’s whole process of self-destruction in front of her eyes.

There was an inkling of doubt that passed through her mind.

Maybe Kuvira was already too far gone, past the threshold of anything she could do to bring her back. Or maybe Kuvira wasn’t gone at all, maybe this is what she wan-

Suyin steeled her jaw, and blocked out the negativity of doubt trying to take over her confident mind. Doubt couldn’t work on her, and she’d be damned to let herself give in to it.

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Feeling the blood trickle into her palm, Kuvira ignored the pulsing pain, slowly clenching her hand once again into a fist. She narrowed her eyes, listening to Suyin exhale a deep breath with the soft rattle of the chains around her wrists following shortly after.

There was so much she’d wanted to ask Suyin.

So many questions regarding why the woman she loved chose the Avatar, were still left racing through her mind. She would never stop loving Suyin, but now what Kuvira saw was a woman willing to betray her.

Suyin was supposed to be loyal to _her_ , at least that’s what the lover in her said.

With a hand on the vanity, Kuvira stared down into the metal surface. “You wanted her to kill me.” Kuvira’s low voice crawled in defeated anger.

“What?” In a swift move Suyin looked up with her face drawn into the perfect portrait of confusion, furrowing her brow she stepped closer.

“You were telling her…to kill me.”

Suyin looked down; her eyes darting over the ground. Rolling her foot to a stop, she stared at a spot on the floor, coming to a realization. Kuvira was talking about her fight with Korra, the fight that was still clearly reminiscent in her mind. Suyin lifted her head and glanced over the dirt still lodged into the fabric of the Great Uniter’s uniform from where she had slid across the ground. Her once messy hair had been brushed but left down after being strewn out of place from its meticulously done bun.

That fight ended hours ago, but was still fresh in everyone’s mind, including Suyin’s.

Watching Avatar Korra lift the boulder over Kuvira’s head, Suyin remembered the sudden regret she felt at what she had pushed Korra into doing.

She was mad at Kuvira, but never so mad that she wanted her to die, and she certainly didn’t want to have a front row seat to watch it happen. In fact, Suyin was grateful Kuvira was alive. She actually let go of the breath she’d locked within her chest once she realized that the boulder hadn’t landed on top of the Great Uniter.  

Now that that was over, the personal resentment she held for the Great Uniter could be resolved, and one day it would be. But the pain of watching Kuvira die would have tormented her forever. She’d never be able to un-see Kuvira’s death. It would haunt her waking hours along with her dreams, turning them into nightmares. And worse…she wouldn’t be able to run to Kuvira and ease her mind seeing the guard was still alive and well. No, Kuvira would be dead, and one of her worst fears would become true.

The nightmare would be a reality.

“I was not. I would not.” Suyin defended. “I was just telling her to go into the Avatar state.”

“And what did you **_think_** was going happen?” Kuvira whipped around, seething through her teeth, as she brought the room to deafening silence.

Suyin paced away from the door. “ _You_ challenged her.” She stated, putting a halt to any of Kuvira’s arguments, even as she felt the Great Uniter’s anger emanating towards her.

Making her way further into the open living space, Suyin stopped before she got too close to Kuvira, knowing it was wise to keep a good amount of space between them. With no words to say, she leaned against a nearby wall; her eyes taking in the lonely attributes of the room that looked more like a larger version of a solitary cell in her opinion.

All Suyin could do was sigh.

Ultimately Kuvira’s near defeat had been her own fault. In her cockiness the Great Uniter faced the Avatar one on one; believing Korra to be too weak to fight. Kuvira used that chance to exemplify to everyone how powerful Great Uniter truly was. Taking down the only person who could bend all four elements would have given Kuvira a status not many had. She would have been revered, as well as feared.  

In a normal setting, with Korra at 100 percent, it wouldn’t have been a wise move to take on the Avatar alone. But taking advantage of Korra’s weakened state, Kuvira knew she had shot. And of course, who did the Great Uniter have to tell her otherwise?

No one would dare.

A tough fight later, Kuvira ended up winning…even though technically by default. Either way Zaofu was hers, and every bit worth the struggle it was to get it.

However, the only thing really keeping Kuvira from becoming united face first into the ground, was Korra’s mental break. But the Great Uniter didn’t know that.

Why the Avatar didn’t drop that rock when she had the chance, would forever be a mystery to her.

Staring into the face of death, that was one of the few times Kuvira had actually shown fear as she looked up to see the massive boulder hovering over her head, and an Avatar with every intent on dropping it. In awe of the first hand display of Korra’s true power, the person looking up was no longer the Great Uniter, but the little overly curious street kid who knew she’d gotten herself into more than she bargained for. She heard stories of the Avatar’s powers, but that was the first time she witnessed it for herself. That boulder over her head was larger and heavier than anything she could single-handedly bend.

Kuvira was a master of her skill, but in that moment she knew she had made a mistake in doubting the Avatar’s abilities.

Suyin pushed off the cool wall and cautiously walked closer to Kuvira, feeling the other woman’s unstable yet raging thoughts within the heavy tension in the air. “Kuvira I-” She reached her hand out, as her fingers brushed against the Great Uniter’s shoulder.

“Leave me alone.” Kuvira jerked her shoulder away from Suyin’s hand, rejecting the woman’s touch.

At the sudden movement Kuvira grabbed her left side as a shockwave of pain tore through her. With a grunt she braced through another stab of pain, squeezing the edge of the vanity with her left hand, leaving her fingers imprinted in the metal.

Korra had done more damage to her than Kuvira wanted to accept. She let out a few quiet labored breaths, trying to regain her composure. “Zaofu is mine now…you won’t get it back…no amount of your… _fake_ groveling will work.”

Suyin furrowed her brow and pulled her hand away from Kuvira’s back. “I was hoping that Korra would have taught you a lesson, if anything.” She stood for a moment in silence then stepped back and shook her head slowly.

“The Avatar is weak.” Kuvira seethed.

“No, you are.” Suyin could envision the Great Uniter’s enraged face as those bold words left her mouth, but yet she defended them. “Korra is changing. She’s becoming stronger…you…are getting weaker.” For just a moment Suyin let herself forget about how much she cared for Kuvira; her words becoming spiteful, thrown out of anger for her city and the situation she’d been put into. “You deserved it.” Suyin dug back into the past, again referring to Kuvira’s defeat, but maybe also more.

“All of this is no one’s fault but your own.” Suyin kept the eyes underneath her furrowed brow glued to Kuvira, knowing that she was provoking a ticking time bomb. “If you expect me to bow to this Great Uniter…I never will, and it doesn’t matter who you are to me.”

Kuvira’s eyes narrowed at the vanity. “Careful Suyin…Don’t forget which one of us is in chains.”

Another bout of silence followed the Great Uniter’s threatening words, as a malicious fire began to boil within Suyin.

She too felt betrayed in so many ways. First as a mentor, then as a boss, and last as a lover. “You have no right.” Suyin started her voice soft, yet brimming with contained anger. “I taught you everything you know…and this is how you repay me.” Suyin stayed quiet for a long while, glancing down to the ground then up to Kuvira once again.

Kuvira slowly shook her head, disgusted that Suyin felt even the right to be hurt. “I think I’ve made enough _payments_ to you over the years.”

Suyin took the harsh side comment from Kuvira lightly. Even though it hurt, she knew it was only Kuvira’s anger talking. “As much as it bothers me…” Suyin took a deep breath letting her anger fade, as she stared with cold eyes. “…that is beside the point-”

“It’s not my fault.” Kuvira cut Suyin off, not wanting to hear the thousand and one reasons the matriarch had to convince herself she wasn’t the cause.

“Yes it is.”

Kuvira looked over the same shoulder Suyin had tried to touch, stretching herself up to a full stand, despite the pain now throbbing in her side. “No…it’s not.”

“Then who’s at fault. It seems to me like you’re the master mind behind it a-”

The Great Uniter turned around. “The only reason why I’m here, is because _you_ were too much of a selfish bitch to step up and help your own people.” Kuvira seethed; her eyes growing darker and her voice louder as she strode towards Suyin. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

Suyin stepped back, her narrowed eyes staying in place. Inside she felt an underlying fear but wouldn’t allow Kuvira the satisfaction of seeing it on her face. She could hear the angry closed-mouth pants Kuvira took, as the woman stared back at her, and she could see her shoulders moving up and down with every livid breath.

Did her former guard really hate her that much?

The Captain she knew would have never called her such names. And as determined as Suyin was to stand her ground something about Kuvira’s dark demeanor pushed her back.

Kuvira’s beating words had been enough to send Suyin’s back to the metal wall.

The vulgar names she’d been called in the past never fazed her, and they still didn’t. What hurt her the most was who they came from this time. The guard who used to defend her against such slander, now made those words another expression of her own enmity.

Advancing towards Suyin step by step, Kuvira slowed her pace.

“I did what you wouldn’t.” Kuvira took another step closer, lifting a finger from her injured hand to point at herself. “I give them stability…”

The matriarch took notice of the slight shake tremoring Kuvira’s hand. She didn’t know whether it was due to her anger, or from the numbing pain Kuvira’s hand was probably in.

“I give them hope. _I’m_ restoring their livelihoods.” Kuvira noticed the tremor of her hand and squeezed it into a fist as she grit her teeth together. She looked back up to Suyin, meeting the woman’s eyes, knowing she’d caught it too.

Before despair could seep into her eyes, Suyin reeled it in and pushed off the wall, smirking for a moment at the words the Great Uniter spoke. “You only help knowing they’re indebted to you. Sure, you give them food and what they need, but you expect a high commitment in return…am I right?” Suyin paused. “And if they say no?”

Kuvira’s eyes narrowed. “Everything has a price Suyin.”

Their gazes lingered on one another a moment longer.

“You go to these people, _knowing_ they’re in need of human nature’s most basic resources to survive, and you give it to them only under certain terms and conditions.” Suyin looked down. “You’re raising an Empire -If you want to call it that- based on lies and coercion.”

“I do not lie, I’m very straight forward.”

“That’s right, you are.”

“So what happens if they turn you away?”

The Great Uniter stayed silent before giving a smirk of her own. “That’s Politics. I guess I know a lot more than you thought I did-”

“They suffer, don’t they? Only to have everything taken from them by **force**.” Suyin looked up in anger. “It’s dirty. You’re making a name for yourself off the backs of these people, telling your followers it’s all being done for the good of the Earth Kingdom. And obliviously, they stay loyal-”

“Unlike you.”

“I won’t be part of this Kuvira. You know why I-”

“What right does a coward have to tell me what I’m doing wrong?” Kuvira snapped and resumed her advance toward Suyin. “ _My_ way gets solutions. What have you got to show?” Kuvira stopped, looking down into the angry jade eyes staring back at her. “You were more worried about keeping yourself safe in your little fortress, than helping the hundreds of earth benders who were _**dying** _ just a city away!” Kuvira raised her voice, watching Suyin’s back hit the wall again. “ _You_ _watched_ the Earth Kingdom burn…” She lowered her voice; her disappointment thickening her words as she let her unyielding gaze lock directly into Suyin’s. “You saw the smoke…from your **_office window_**.” Kuvira growled as she invaded Suyin’s personal space, trying to take down the last shred of pride she knew Suyin still held. “You did _nothing_ to help…I did.” Kuvira watched Suyin seemingly deflate and glance down; the matriarch’s jaw locking out of guilt.

This wasn’t supposed to be how things went down. Kuvira trusted Suyin and her kindness, never thinking she’d turn down an opportunity to help her own, or in the least, to give Zaofu an even more inflated ego than it already had. But when it came down to it, the once enthusiastically rebellious woman had softened with time. Twenty years ago she would’ve tried to take on the challenge of becoming the leader, if for anything, to help the earth benders she thought to be suppressed under the monarchy. That woman was eager to fight for a cause. That was the Suyin Kuvira wanted, and the one she needed. It sickened her to think that the woman before her now could sleep well at night knowing what she’d turned away.

The outcries for help probably didn’t even faze her. And at that thought, Kuvira’s softening face transformed into an unforgiving look of malice. The only thing this woman cared about was keeping her hands clean. Or rather **_was_** keeping her hands clean. The reason Suyin stood before her with fettered wrists and shackled ankles, was because the woman had proven she was willing to get her hands dirty; willing to kill to protect what’s hers; willing to stand in the Great Uniter’s way.

Kuvira’s temper flared, and without warning she punched a hole into the metal wall beside Suyin’s head. “ **Don’t** you **dare** tell me that this is **my** fault.” She turned her back to Suyin, trying to collect her anger as she paced a couple steps away. Her reprieve didn’t last long though, and moments later she strode back towards Suyin, readying herself to do more damage. But before more harmful words came from her mouth, she was stopped.

“Kuvira please, just…calm down.” There was a slight hesitance before Suyin looked up into the Great Uniter’s furious eyes with guilted defeat showing in her own.  She reached out, placing a hand on Kuvira’s stomach softly, a bit surprised that the Great Uniter didn’t jerk away. “There’s no use in us playing this irrational game of back and forth.” Now she was groveling, but pacifying the Great Uniter’s anger was the first thing Suyin had to do. She could admit to her own faults after Kuvira had calmed down.

Maybe then they’d be able to have a civil conversation.

The Great Uniter stood silent, not wanting to admit that Suyin’s touch was softening her resolve. It always did, she hadn’t forgotten that. She also hadn’t forgotten how it was the matriarch who pacified her temper, bringing her back down to a sensible level. Yet, odd as it was, Kuvira had started to notice, back some months ago, that the anger she had been so good at suppressing, was beginning to come back with a full vengeance. The reality, the Great Uniter connected, was that the brunt of her emotional down fall started the day her and Suyin became more than just work partners.

With all those rapturous feelings of passion running wild between them, it had unlocked an emotive side of herself that Kuvira had avoided for years.

She couldn’t compartmentalize Suyin, she hadn’t found a way.

In other words, Suyin was her passion’s craving, but also her demise. The matriarch had the unique ability to evoke such an emotional rise from Kuvira, that it drove her mad.

And here they were again, inches apart.

Enemies this time, but still drawn together.

Kuvira turned her head away from Suyin’s gaze, releasing a slow breath out through her nose, as she felt feelings of calm trying to remedy her anger. Every thought in her mind told her to push Suyin away, but she stayed, frozen where she stood by some paralyzing force.

“You’re right.”

Hearing Suyin’s soft confirmation, Kuvira shifted her eyes over to the shorter woman, then down to the chained hand on her abdomen. Irritated, she locked her jaw again as Suyin’s thumb slowly kneaded into her uniform.

This was all part of Suyin’s mind games, and the cunning older woman was trying to suck her in again. Kuvira knew it; she was used to it.

The arguments they had were always the same. If Suyin knew she was wrong, she had a method to turn everything back into her favor.

First, she’d admit defeat humbly. Then, give a subtle touch to calm Kuvira’s heightened state. And last, she’d restate in an analytical way why she _still_ wasn’t wrong, hoping Kuvira would be converted to seeing her side. And most of the time the guard did. Suyin’s method worked, but was also the reason Kuvira felt so indoctrinated by her at times. Suyin kept her guessing, that much was certain.

But…The _Great Uniter_ wasn’t about to give in that quick. Suyin would no longer be her weakness.

So Kuvira played along.

“I should have stepped up.” Suyin continued in a soothing quiet tone, looking at her hand and where it lay against the Great Uniter’s uniform. “But I was concerned for _Zaofu’s_ well-being.”  It was working, Suyin could feel Kuvira’s muscles relaxing, and her furious breaths returning to normal as she slowly looked back up to watch the Great Uniter’s eyes roam over her face then begin to travel lower. “It’s not that I don’t care, but _this_ is my city and-” Suyin’s words were steadfast before she paused, feeling Kuvira move in closer to her, resting her injured hand against the wall above her head.

“...and?” Kuvira said staring straight down into Suyin’s eyes; the softer almost soothing tone to her deep voice confusing the matriarch.

A moment ago Kuvira was yelling a tirade, and now she was trying to arouse her with a proximity close enough to kiss and a lulling voice. Suyin stared back blankly not knowing what emotion to put forward.

“You still haven’t told me the rest…” Kuvira put her good hand atop the wrist out-stretched to her abdomen.

Suyin glanced down, she could see the reddened knuckles of Kuvira’s hand over her own. “A-And _these_ are the people I’m responsible for.” She looked back up, watching the Great Uniter’s head move down closer; the uncertainty of Kuvira’s actions leading her heart to race.

Leaning in next to Suyin’s ear, going slow, Kuvira let her face brush against the side of the shorter woman’s cheek. She stopped, her lips resting close to the rim of Suyin’s ear, close enough to bite.  “Is that…how you **_rationalize_** _it_?” Kuvira spoke, the end of her words turning aggressive as her facial expression transformed to one of anger in a second.

Feeling Suyin jump, she smirked and pulled away from the woman’s ear.

Shoving Suyin’s hand from her, Kuvira backed up shaking her head slowly at the older woman out of disappointment. In silence Kuvira turned and walked back over to the vanity that sat nearby a rigid-looking bed that had been hardly noticeable, due to the room’s dim light. “You haven’t changed _a bit_ since I left.” She paused before taking a few extra paces around the bedroom, that started to look more like an office.

Practically snatching out the first few buttons of her jacket until the flaps hung loose at the top, Kuvira left her white tank underneath partially exposed. “I was hoping that after I’d gone, you’d at least figure things out.”

“So…” Suyin’s brow furrowed. “You wanted me to basically say “Kuvira you’re right and I was wrong, let’s do things your way”.”

“Well…yes.”

“Is this _your_ way?” Suyin held up her hands, to emphasize the chains around her wrists. “By locking me, and my family up? What solution has this reached?”

“You wouldn’t co-operate.” Kuvira said softly, her eyes staring a hole into the ground. “I had to do it.”

Suyin interrupted the Great Uniter’s rationalizing with a stronger, more aggressive tone to her voice. “ _Throwing_ non-earth benders living in the earth kingdom into _prison camps_?”

“They don’t understand us.” Kuvira spoke again; her voice raising just a level. 

“ _Destroying_ cities, and the livelihoods of the _same_ people you say you’re trying _so_ hard to help?”

 “ **SHUT UP**!” Kuvira looked over to Suyin with furious eyes. But even her furious eyes now held a small, minute measure of doubt in them as the Great Uniter glanced down, letting her anger settle once more.

After a moment of silence, she spoke; her voice returning to a normal level.  “…I’m doing what’s right.” Kuvira looked up to Suyin then back down again, as she slowly took a seat in the rigid metal chair in front of the vanity, giving Suyin a full profile of only the side of her body and face. “At least it’s _something_ …” She focused straight ahead.

Suyin mentally sighed, watching Kuvira physically do the same, slumping slightly in her chair. She was starting to crack the Great Uniter, and get through to the guard she once knew; maybe her first attempt had broken through more than she realized. Now it was time to keep pushing. “I know everything Kuvira. Korra and the others have told me a lot. And it was hard enough for me to believe that _you_ would even be capable of things like this…” Suyin stopped and looked away. “…in fact…I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t for a while.” Suyin gazed back up to Kuvira staring blankly at the metal wall on the opposite end of the room. “The Kuvira I know is more sensible than this. You’re not the monster they think you are.”

In twist of her expectations, Suyin heard a hearty laugh from Kuvira fill the room.

“Is that what they call me?” Kuvira grinned. “A monster?”

“Among other things.”

“Do you ever think that maybe they’re right? Maybe you never really knew who this _“monster”_ was?” Kuvira looked over to Suyin and smiled; her dark eyes resembling nothing of her former guard. Even if a smile was on Kuvira’s face, it was only a haunting one trying to imitate the past. The saddened but treacherous gleam in her green eyes betrayed the sincerity of her smile. They held in so many years of negativity. Years of hardship that had all once been hidden away behind a veil of genuine smiles and polite passiveness.

The Great Uniter was that side of her guard Suyin had always felt lurking beneath the darker depths of Kuvira’s personality; kept suppressed for so long until now.

Kuvira’s façade was no more than a mask covering the shell of her broken former self. But old Kuvira wasn’t quite strong enough to lead a nation, so she created a new visage that was.

Kuvira had become so cold and separated from her actions, that she could smile like she did that day in the matriarch’s office with Bataar Jr.; the day they’d returned to Zaofu. That jeering smile horrified Suyin more than anything. She was more focused on how much of Kuvira had changed, and less concerned about the words coming out of the Great Uniter’s mouth.

Feeling disconnected with this Great Uniter, Suyin could feel the family’s presence in office with them, the world didn’t drown away like it normally did when her and Kuvira spoke. No, now it was about more than just them. Lives were in danger, lives that included her family’s.

Kuvira couldn’t see the blood on her own hands, but everyone else could.

“You took in a street rat Suyin…” Kuvira started, turning her head away once again; her face serious, devoid of any earlier sarcasm or amusement. “…and turned me into something you could recognize.” She paused. “Did you ever think…that maybe I’m not the person _you_ think I am?”

Suyin watched the Great Uniter with saddened eyes.

“Are you trying to tell me that everything’s been a lie?” Suyin said softly, knowing Kuvira wasn’t talking about the whole Great Uniter mess. She was talking about them, and what they used to be…until the fight that tore everything apart.

“I’m telling you…” Kuvira turned her hand around examining the damage in front of her face. “…maybe…I’m good at faking things I don’t feel.” She stared at the raw skin on the back of her hand. “…I’ve done it for years.”

In a switch, Suyin furrowed her brow with a disbelieving smirk setting on her face.

 “No…try if you will, but you can’t convince me of that.” Suyin walked towards Kuvira with no hesitance in her steps, as she pulled, dragging the chains with her. “Maybe in some ways you have…but when I remember the way you used to kiss me…” She paused, stretching her smirk into a small, almost untraceable smile, as she thought of all the kisses she had shared with her former guard. And there were many. Definitely more than a dozen, but fewer than twenty-maybe even thirty, Suyin suspected.

Not only did she miss those kisses, but also the way Kuvira held her. The guard’s grip was always tight, but never suffocating. She knew enough about Suyin to give her the space and freedom she needed, knowing that she’d always return on her own.

Quality was placed over quantity in both their opinions. After Kuvira mastered the art of kissing the high maintenance woman, Suyin hungered for more. The guard’s kiss was always tender and warming, never rough—Well…

Suyin felt her smile stretch to a grin as she moved closer; her eyes grazing over Kuvira’s form.

…Only when…

Suyin caught her mind wandering away from the situation at hand, and gave up the tempting thought. Stopping inches in front of the Great Uniter her soft grin soon faded.

Drawn back into the present, Suyin had forgotten her words.

All she could do was look down at Kuvira’s tired eyes, that didn’t even bother to acknowledge her.

The days had worn Kuvira out; her nights probably sleepless, Suyin knew all too well. The responsibilities of ruling were taking its toll. Power had a way of doing that. When the novelty eventually wore off, leaders were left sleep deprived with a mound of paper work on their desks.

Kuvira was no exception, no matter how many odds she had defied.

Suyin lifted her hand, the rattle of the platinum chain startling in the room’s silence. Reaching out, she slowly brushed her palm against Kuvira’s cheek. Her eyes followed her hand as it ran up with gentle ease over the warm skin beneath it. “You’re tired.” Suyin whispered knowingly, with a sincere look of concern on her face.

Slipping her fingers into Kuvira’s hair, she softly pulled down, tilting the Great Uniter’s head back until Kuvira’s eyes stared back into her own.

“I am.” Came a rasp from the Great Uniter, who stared at Suyin a moment longer then closed her eyes, feeling a thumb gently rubbing circles just behind her ear. 

A soft smile escaped, but not Suyin’s…Kuvira’s.

“There was never a time I didn’t feel _every_ part of you kissing me back.” Suyin continued the words she’d almost completely forgotten.

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End file.
